by Dorcas Coleman
Negotiating the bends of rustic Route 343 as it bumps and winds its way through
Dorchester County farms and marshlands, one would hardly expect it to end up at
a state-of-the-art facility tasked with changing the way scientists,
environmentalists and governmental officials approach the protection and
management of our most precious natural resources. However, set along the banks
of the Choptank River several miles outside the town of Cambridge is the new
University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Aquaculture and
Restoration Ecology Laboratory (AERL), the nation’s first research facility
dedicated to the holistic restoration of a major ecosystem like the Chesapeake
Bay.

A State-of-the-Art Facility
It was here that on November 20, 2003, Maryland governors past and present
joined staff from the University of Maryland, the State Departments of Natural
Resources
(DNR) and Environment (MDE), and other federal, state and local officials to
dedicate the new laboratory at Horn Point. Governor Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.,
along with former Governors Harry Hughes and Marvin Mandel, each spoke
eloquently about the need for such a facility in Maryland.

The AERL is the newest addition to the Horn Point
Laboratory complex, an arm of the University of Maryland Center for
Environmental Science (UMCES), the principal institution for advanced
environmental research and graduate studies within the University System of
Maryland. The facility has long been engaged in research on the biology,
chemistry, physics and ecology of organisms and ecosystems, from the wetlands of
the Chesapeake Bay to the open waters of the world’s oceans.

The
new $25 million laboratory is the only university research facility in the
nation dedicated to restoration ecology, in which aquaculture approaches are
integrated with ecosystem science to produce environmentally sustainable
strategies to restore coastal environments such as the Chesapeake Bay. Begun in
December 2001 and completed in less than two years, the AREL contains more than
62,000 square feet dedicated to the science of the sustainable development of
our living resources, effective ecosystem restoration, and aquaculture that is
economically and environmentally sound.

Help for a Troubled
Population
A chief area of AREL efforts is its oyster restoration program. Maryland’s
native oyster, Crassostrea virginica, one of the most recognizable
symbols of the state’s heritage and culture, is rivaled in tradition and lore
only by the blue crab. But its recent woes threaten to completely undermine the
industry that has grown up around this legendary bivalve. October’s cooler days
typically bring a renewed enthusiasm to fishing villages around the Chesapeake
with the approach of the commercial oyster season. However, October 2003 found
the oyster industry in its worst shape ever with the season’s harvest projected
to be less than half of last year’s record low 53,000 bushels.

The oyster hatchery at the Horn Point
Laboratory (HPL) has a long history of producing larvae and seed oysters for use
in research, extension and restoration projects, and currently spawns and rears
over 95 percent of the oyster larvae produced in Maryland. In recent years
efforts have been dramatically increased as a result of a heightened awareness
of the oyster problem throughout the Bay region, an awareness brought about by
scientists, resource managers, watermen and environmental groups in response to
the Chesapeake’s declining stocks.

The new shellfish culture facility at AERL will
more than double current oyster spat production, aiding research and restoration
efforts across the state. The building will also provide state-of-the-art
quarantine systems for sensitive research on non-native species such as the
Asian oyster (Crassostrea ariakensis) without risking accidental
introduction directly into the Bay’s waters. The facility’s greenhouse will
support algal culture for oyster aquaculture production, and the anticipated
improvements in algae production and larval nutrition could result in up to a
10-fold increase in oyster spat production over the next decade.

Another feature of the new facility, a unique
25-foot water flume, will allow for the study of how water flow, such as waves
and currents, affects marsh and bay grass systems and animal communities. Six
miles of pipes will carry 14 different types of water into the laboratories.

The oyster larvae that have long been produced
at Horn Point are used to set oyster spat on shells for restoration activities,
conduct research on a wide range of oyster-related topics, and provide for
educational and outreach programs aimed at watermen, oyster culturists, students
and the general public. HPL scientists work closely with researchers from other
states on projects aimed at solving the problems that plague oysters in the
region, such as the diseases MSX and Dermo. Larvae and spat produced at the lab
are used in conjunction with oysters produced by hatcheries in other states in
cooperative programs on oyster disease.

Strategic Partners and Future Plans
The larvae and seed oysters have gone into Oyster Recovery Areas (ORAs) and
community plantings under the auspices of numerous public and private
partnerships. DNR, the Oyster Recovery Partnership (ORP), U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and Maryland Watermen’s Association are some
of the agencies that work with environmental and educational groups and
aquaculturists. Adding to these efforts are a growing number of individual
citizens and school groups operating under an oyster gardening program developed
by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

Over the past eight years oyster seed from the
Horn Point Laboratory has been deployed in the Chester, Miles, Wye, Choptank,
Nanticoke, Patuxent, Patapsco, Severn, South, Magothy, West and Tred Avon
Rivers, along Tangier Sound, Eastern Bay, the main stem of the Chesapeake Bay
and Maryland’s Coastal Bays. Many of these plantings will contribute to the
troubled oyster fishery in future years while some have been placed on
sanctuaries where it is hoped they will enhance the reproductive potential of
our depleted stocks and provide more natural spat for restoration.

The types of cooperative programs that are
being developed at Horn Point and the new AERL will play a key role in
abundantly stocking restoration sites and guiding research into improved methods
designed to bring back a healthy oyster population in the Chesapeake Bay. The
AREL will not only greatly expand the capacity of oyster production at Horn
Point, but will also provide controlled environmental facilities needed to
advance oyster culture and disease research. Finally, it will greatly improve
UMCES’ capabilities for research in restoration of wetlands, submerged aquatic
vegetation and other critical habitats in the Chesapeake Bay.